


Cupid Potter

by Mizugame



Category: Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
Genre: Get together fic, James Knows, Lily helps him, M/M, Slow Burn, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22789483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizugame/pseuds/Mizugame
Summary: James knows that Sirius likes Remus.  He also knows that Remus likes Sirius.  And he was sworn to secrecy by both of them.  How can he go about getting them together without breaking his promise? He could just tell them, but James Potter doesn't break promises.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 20
Kudos: 73





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This came to me as a really cute idea and I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! It will be multi-chaptered, although I'm not sure how many yet.

Chapter One  
-  
James Potter awoke with a start one morning the first month into his sixth year in the Gryffindor dormitory on a Tuesday morning. Rubbing his bleary eyes, he peeked out from the curtains of his four-poster bed and ran a hand through his already mussed up black hair. With a sigh, he saw the light of the sun creeping up over the landscape, and realized, he had once again, woken up way too early. 

“For Merlin’s sake,” James muttered, leaning back down into his pillow. 

He had two options now. He could close his eyes and try to go back to sleep, as he had been doing a lot these days, or he could put on his glasses and get ready for the day. He closed his eyes and decided that waking up this early was a thing that had GOT to stop happening. It was, frankly, getting quite ridiculous.

He lied there for a good hour or so, listening to each of his dorm mates in turn. Peter was lightly snoring off and on, Remus would occasionally mumble something lightly in his sleep, and Sirius, even though James was sure he was asleep, was tossing and turning in his bed. 

Sirius.

This was all actually Sirius’s fault. Why he couldn’t seem to sleep well at all these days. He almost wished he could transfer this sleeplessness over to his best mate in the next bed, but decided Sirius had enough trouble sleeping as it was, and thought better of it.

-

The first bombshell had been dropped on him the over winter break when they were back at his parents’ house, enjoying the Christmas holidays.

“Prongs, can I tell you something that you absolutely cannot tell anyone else, even Wormtail and Moony,” Sirius had asked him one night, when they were both down in the living room after Mr. and Mrs. Potter had gone to bed.

James had looked at his friend with laughter in his eyes, as though the thought of Sirius thinking James would tell anyone his secrets was hilarious. He had stopped when he saw how clouded and dark Sirius’s normally laughing grey eyes were, and how guarded he suddenly looked, which was rare between the two boys. 

“Uh, yeah, sure, mate. You know you can tell me anything,” James had answered back.

Sirius had taken a deep breath and had held it in for a long time before exhaling. James had begun to wonder what could be so monumental to his friend, but kept the silence for Sirius to think. 

“I think,” Sirius had begun, choosing his words carefully in a rare case of self-reflection. “No, at this point I know… So you know how you feel about Evans?”

“Yeah…” James had nodded, wondering where this was going.

“I don’t feel that way. And I’m never gonna feel that way.” 

“Well I would bloody hope not,” James began, wondering why his best friend would be telling him he wasn’t interested in the girl James had been pining after for years now. “That would be pretty fucked up if you went and decided to try and steal my future girlfriend.” 

“You can’t just decide someone’s going to be your girlfriend, Prongs,” Sirius had looked at him in exasperation, momentarily forgetting his worry. “And I don’t mean about Evans – I mean about any girl.” 

James had paused for a second. “What exactly do you mean by,” he had started slowly, trying to piece the information together. 

“I’m gay, James,” Sirius had put the puzzle together for him.

James remembered that at that moment, a lot had started to make sense. Lots of girls were always throwing themselves at Sirius – and he had never once paid any of them any attention. If James weren’t so concerned with one particular redhead, it would have made him a bit jealous at times that girls were always more interested in Sirius. Of course it made sense that Sirius was gay. He also, with a lot of shame, remembered thinking at that time how weird it would be that his best friend was gay. They lived together. They changed in front of each other all the time. Now he realized how ridiculous that thought was, but the thought had existed at that time and was unlearned later. 

\- 

The second bombshell had come over summer holidays, when he and Sirius were at his home again, about to go to sleep after a long day of playing Quidditch in the Potters’ backyard. 

“James,” Sirius had started, turning on his side to look over at James. 

James had immediately known something was up. Sirius very rarely called him James, usually only when talking about something serious. 

“Yeah?” James had responded, turning over himself to look at the other boy.

“How fucked up do you think it would make our friend group if I had a crush on someone in it?” 

James’s mind had been racing. He had gotten over his initial ignorance and was now completely fine on the matter – but was Sirius trying to confess to him?

“Uh, Pads, I know we talked about your sexuality before and I am still completely fine with whoever you’re interested in, but I don’t – I’m not…” 

Sirius at that moment had sat completely upright, making a general gesture of confusion, black curls bouncing around his face. 

“You absolute prat – I have much better taste than that.” 

“Hey!” James had cried out. “I am a good looking guy and you would be lucky to have me.” 

Pillow throwing had ensued for a time after that, and when they were both good and tired, they had lied back down. 

“It’s Moony, isn’t it?” James had asked Sirius.

“Why would you say that?”

James had thought back to their whole group dynamic. He and Sirius were very, very close. Practically brothers at this point, as his parents had basically adopted Sirius as their own. They did everything together – Quidditch, pranks, studying… well, pretending to study but mostly just throwing quills and parchment at each other. But there was something different in Sirius and Remus’s friendship. There always had been. And James was fine with it – those two had been dealt some of the worst cards anyone could play with, and they understood each other in that way. There was a gentleness, a kind of understanding James was well aware he would never be able to get, and that was okay. That was their thing. 

He had thought about that but had only responded to Sirius with, “Well, I’m pretty sure it’s not Pete.” 

“How dare you insult the love of my life like that.” 

James had just slanted his eyes at Sirius. 

“Yeah, it’s Moony,” Sirius had sighed. “You CANNOT say anything to him – I’ll kill you.” 

And with that James had agreed to keep Sirius’s secret. He had thought it would be worth discussing with Remus – he was very level headed and even if he didn’t feel the same way, James was sure they would all still be able to be friends. They were all okay after discovering Remus was a werewolf, after all. Sirius had insisted that the two things were worlds – galaxies even – apart, and thus James had been sworn to silence. 

-

This all could have been manageable, and he would have begun his sixth year at Hogwarts well rested and able to laugh and joke with his friends with the same ease he had done all the previous five years. However, a third bombshell had been dropped on him the first week back at school. 

On the Hogwarts express he had noticed that Remus looked worse than he usually did. His friend’s green eyes were always rimmed a bit by tiredness, but this was past that. James had done a quick calculation in his head, and the full moon wasn’t for another two weeks. Was it a super moon that was coming? Those had always made Remus feel even worse the weeks leading up. 

Remus had done his best to pretend that nothing was wrong, talking with his friends the whole way back to Hogwarts, but James had noticed that the usual sarcasm lacked a bit of bite, and his smile never made it fully to his eyes. 

James had approached him the second day back at classes, when they were all planning to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast, but Remus was still in the bathroom, saying that he was getting ready and the other three should go down first. James had shooed the other two down before him, and after a hard glare from Sirius which James took to mean ‘Don't you fucking dare, Potter’ they had exited the dorm. 

James had knocked lightly on the bathroom door. They usually took no notice of the others’ privacy, after having lived together for so long, but James had had a feeling that this was a sensitive situation. Call it deer instincts. 

He hadn’t gotten a response, so he pushed the door open a bit and saw Remus sitting down by the sink, head in his hands. James had thought maybe Remus hadn’t noticed him, and he should go downstairs to breakfast as well, as he was usually very ill equipped to handle emotional situations. But this was one of his best mates, and he had felt compelled to do something. 

“Moony, are you all right?” James had asked him, sitting down next to the tawny haired boy.

Remus usually looked like he was carrying the weight of the world single-handedly, but the look he had given James then was heavier than anything James had seen before. 

“I am so fucked, Prongs.” 

“Did something happen over vacation?”

“It happened way before vacation, but I was handling it quite well I thought, but then I didn’t have much to do all summer, so I just kept thinking about him and then the dreams started and that was super weird, and then we kept exchanging letters and I just wanted to see him so bad, and I thought once school started things would go back to normal, but they haven’t, and now he’s here all the fucking time and I hate his stupid face and who told him to be that good looking? And also…” 

The thing about Remus Lupin was that he was very, very good at keeping things bottled up inside. The other thing about Remus Lupin, which James was one of the few people to be privy to, was that he was so good at keeping things bottled up inside, that eventually when they came out – they all came out. Like a flood. It didn’t stop. It had happened in second year when they had all approached him about being a werewolf. At first he had denied it, but when he finally realized that they all KNEW knew, he had gone into a twenty minute long speech about how he understood why they would all no longer want to be his friends and they should leave him now before any of them got hurt, and how he was the actual worst. And it had broken James’s heart then. But this had been different. He had guessed where this was going, and he had known that this could end well. 

Remus had looked at James, confused, when he had realized James was no longer listening and was smiling like an idiot. 

“Prongs…?”

“It’s Sirius, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” was followed by a deep sigh, and Remus’s head was in his hands again. “But you can’t…”

“No! Do not make me promise not to tell him. Let me tell him. It’s in your best interest to LET ME TELL HIM MOONY.”

“You have to promise me none of that leaves this room – er – bathroom.” 

“Moony are you sure that’s what you want me to do?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything – don’t tell Wormtail either. Or anyone. This stays between us.” 

-

So that’s where James Potter was now. He knew that Sirius liked Remus. And he knew that Remus liked Sirius. But he couldn’t tell the other party what he knew. Some might say that all’s well that ends well, but the thing about James Potter is he takes promises very seriously. And he would never, ever break a promise he made to his best mates. And that's why he kept waking up at ridiculous hours and just thinking. It was all Sirius’s fault. And to an extent – Remus’s – but Remus in general annoyed him way less than Sirius, so James was fine with pinning this one all on Sirius. 

“Tempus,” James muttered. Six o’clock. Not a terrible time to get breakfast. He’d certainly have his choice of all the food before it was picked over.

Reaching over and grabbing his glasses off the nightstand, James got up to get ready for the day.

He made it into the Great Hall around six thirty, and found it sparsely populated. Good. Maybe he could think of a plan that wouldn’t involve him breaking his promises. 

Sitting down at the Gryffindor table, he noticed a few other students were already down there, but took no notice of who. He grabbed some toast and juice, and half-heartedly set to eating his breakfast. And thinking. This was to be a thinking morning if he couldn't get any damn sleep. 

He was deep in his thoughts when he briefly registered someone sitting down across from him. Quite angrily, he thought, judging by the slam of a heavy book on the table. He hadn’t fully been dedicating his whole morning to The Problem, as he had titled it, his thoughts had slightly drifted towards Quidditch, as this was the year he was finally able to be Team Captain. 

“You’re getting ridiculous, Potter,” a familiar voice snapped at him. “I can’t even eat breakfast now and you’re already down here stalking me.” 

James looked across the table at Lily Evans. Any other day, he would have been elated. Alone time in the morning with Evans. But he had bigger problems now. 

“I wasn't stalking you,” He mumbled, taking a bite out of his toast. 

He noticed a slight softening in her green eyes. 

“Then why are you down here so early? And without your friends?” 

James thought for a moment. Evans was smart. Maybe she could help him.

“Maybe you can help me, Evans.”

“I’d rather drop dead.”

“It has nothing to do with me.”

“…Then what is it?”

“Let’s say – hypothetically – that you’re aware that two of your friends like each other. They’ve both told you as much. But they both also made you swear not to tell anyone – especially not the other person. How would you get them to confess to each other without breaking their trust?” 

“Why would you do something so stupid,” Lily was looking at him in absolute confusion. “Just tell them. They’ll forgive you once they’re happy and together.” 

“That's out of the question,” James said with an air of finality. “It may work short term, but then when they’re together – what if they need someone to talk to? Someone to vent to? I want to be that person for my best mates, but they might not trust me with such problems anymore. Breaking that promise is out of the question.” 

Lily was still looking at him like he was crazy, but there was something else, something softer, in her eyes as well.

“Are these hypothetical friends Remus and Black?” 

“Why would you say that?” James had noticed that around last year after they had both become prefects, that Lily would often refer to Remus by his first name. At first it had made him insanely jealous, but he was over it for the most part. And he realized Remus could be his in to put in a good word for him. 

“You have like, three friends, Potter. Also I’m not blind.” 

“I have more than three friends!” James shot back. “And I can neither confirm nor deny that information.”

Lily rolled her eyes at him. It was insanely maddening and also insanely attractive to him.

“Why do you care so much that they get together?” She asked him.

“Because they’re two of my favorite people in the world, and they both deserve to be happy and get everything they want.” 

“That is… unexpectedly very sweet of you. Okay. I’ll help you.” 

“You’ll help me do what?”

“I will help you get Remus and Black together without breaking your ridiculously stringent moral code.”

“I didn’t say it was Remus and Sirius!”

“You’re insufferable, Potter.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter is here and ready! I'm having so much fun writing this, and I hope everyone continues to enjoy! :)  
> Also sorry the boys of the hour (Remus and Sirius) aren't in this chapter tooo much, but that'll change in upcoming chapters very soon.

James Potter walked into the library the Sunday morning after he had talked with Lily Evans that one fateful morning in the Great Hall. As he walked in, he glanced over at the librarian, who was giving him a look like she knew that he didn’t belong. It wasn’t his fault that he preferred studying in the common room to the library!

Sighing, he scanned around the library, looking to see a shock of red hair waiting for him at one of the tables. There was no such redhead to be seen, and James wandered over to a table towards the back, near the stacks of books, and sat down. Lily had told him if he got there first, to wait at one of the “quiet tables,” as if he knew which ones those were.

The past couple days had not gone well, to put it lightly. He and Lily had agreed they’d start with a more subtle approach, dropping hints every so often. He had said a lot in their dorm and common room, and was usually only met with questioning glances and, more often than not, glares. Lily had also tried her luck in making comments during prefect rounds with Remus, but seemed to have as much luck as James.

“I think I’d have better luck breaking into Gringotts than trying to break down any of those walls,” she had exclaimed to him in frustration. James had thought, 'Oh, if only she knew the depth of it.'

James was lost in such thoughts and thinking about how he should have put more effort into his appearance. He had been so caught up in thinking about the problem that he hadn’t even thought about the fact that he would be spending alone time with Evans. He looked down at his Quidditch sweater, and was starting to ruffle up his hair when the redhead in question sat down huffily across from him, this making it the second time in a week.

“Did they ask where you were going?” Lily asked, ignoring any pleasantries for a greeting.

“On a Sunday morning? Remus is still asleep and Sirius was doing something with Pete, so no,” James responded.

“Okay,” Lily started, taking out some parchment and a quill. “I’m thinking we have to take a more direct approach, since the whole hint thing isn’t working.” 

“I totally agree,” James said, pulling out his own roll of parchment, “I have plans A through G listed here. That’s all I could come up with…” 

“…You made a list?”

“I’ve been thinking about this A LOT.”

“Apparently… well, your insanity aside, what are the plans?”

“Uhhh,” James started, looking up from the parchment. “Oh. Oh no. We might have a problem.” 

Lily turned around in her chair, to face the direction of the library entrance. Walking into the library, she saw a short boy with dirty blonde hair waving in their direction. 

“Did you tell him to come?” She asked James.

“No! I thought it’d be better if he didn’t know,” James answered quickly, then – “Hey Pete! Why are you in the library on a Sunday?” 

“Hi Prongs! Hey Evans!” Peter smiled, sitting down at the table with them. “I was wondering where you were so I checked the map.”

“…What map?” Lily asked while James was glaring daggers at Peter.

“It’s nothing,” James answered for him. “Sorry to disappoint, Wormtail, but we’re just having a really boring morning in the library. I’ll come back upstairs in a bit, yeah?”

But Peter was already looking at James’s list. 

“Why do you have ‘Set-Up Plans A-Z’ that only goes up to G?” 

“Well, I wasn’t finished yet!” 

“Who are you trying to set up? If it’s you and Evans I don’t recommend leaving this list out on the table where she can see it.” 

“It is not me and Evans,” James said, snatching the parchment back and folding it up. “It’s just some friends we’re trying to help out.” 

“You have like, three friends, Prongs,” Peter said, looking confused. 

“That’s exactly what I said to him!” Lily exclaimed, looking at Peter with a new sense of appreciation, and earning her a loud shush from the librarian.

James was glaring daggers into the table when Peter spoke again.

“It’s not me you’re trying to set up, is it? I appreciate the gesture, but I’m okay, mate.”

“It’s not you.”

“So then it’s Padfoot or Moony?” 

“Kind of...?”

“We’re trying to set up Remus and Black. Together. With each other. They both told Potter that they like the other and we’re just stepping in to speed things along,” Lily explained very succinctly. 

“Evans!” James yelled, and Lily shushed him before the librarian could. Then he started a bit more quietly, “You can’t just tell people that.” 

“Yes, I can. I just did,” Lily responded. “And you didn’t break any promises because you didn’t say anything – I did.” 

James rolled his eyes and looked over at Peter, who seemed to be lost in thought. After nodding to himself a few times, he came back to the conversation. 

“Yeah, okay. I can see it. I want to help too.” 

“That’s it?”

“What do you mean that’s it?”

“Don’t you have some other reaction?”

“Not … really? We’ve both heard a lot of shocking things, Prongs, I’d hardly think this comes close to any of those. I do think the project needs a better name though, not just the ‘Set-Up.’ Like ‘Project Wolfstar’ or something like that.”

“Why the bloody hell would we name it something like that?” James asked, screaming at Peter through his eyes.

“Well because Sirius is named after a star and Remus is… you know… he can like… see in the dark?” Peter finished lamely and James thought about banging his head against the library table. 

“Remus can see in the dark?” Lily asked before James could say anything. 

“Yeah, super weird, right?” Peter answered hurriedly. And then as he pulled out a small bag from his robes, “Does anyone want a cookie?”

“I don’t think we’re supposed to have cookies… never mind, yeah sure, I’ll take one,” Lily said, taking the bag from Peter.

James glanced thoughtfully across the table. He didn’t think Lily was someone stupid enough to buy that kind of excuse or distraction. In fact, he was sure she was not. So that meant that she either knew something else was going on and was polite enough not to say anything, or she already knew about Remus’s condition and was letting Peter save face. He filed that knowledge in his head to investigate later.

“So what’s Plan A?” Peter asked, sending an apologetic smile towards James.

“All right,” James began, unfolding the parchment. “Plan A is to write letters that they think is from the other one to meet somewhere at night, preferably somewhere romantic, and then they can feel comfortable and in the moment enough to confess to each other.”

“Have you been watching muggle romance movies?” Lily asked him, looking incredulous. “That is a really stupid plan.” 

“I have never seen a muggle romance movie,” James lied, thinking about three summers ago when he tried to watch as many as he could in order to woo Lily the next year using her ‘culture.’ “And it is not a stupid plan.” 

Lily sighed. “Okay, we can start with your plan A. But then when it fails, I want to use one of my plans next.” 

Although James assured her that his plan would not fail, he agreed that was a reasonable compromise. 

“So I stole bits of their homework,” James continued, pulling out more parchment. “So it should be easier to forge. I am absolute rubbish at even my own handwriting, so Pete, I guess you can copy Moony’s, and Evans, you probably have nicer handwriting so you can copy Sirius’s.” 

“You are way too over prepared for this,” Lily breathed out in what James wasn’t sure was astonishment or exasperation, taking the parchment from him.

-

The three of them bent over the mostly blank pieces of parchment, with Lily and Peter carefully copying the letters as best they could. 

“Ah!” Peter exclaimed suddenly, “I got a bit of cookie on the parchment.”

James looked over. “Well, it also could be chocolate, so I guess it looks more authentic,” he shrugged. 

“This is ridiculous,” Lily put her quill down. “Why does Black even write like this? Doesn’t it take way too much time?” 

James looked at her parchment too. She was being incredibly careful, copying the letters in what looked like a better forgery than Peter’s. 

“He said his parents made him take calligraphy lessons as soon as he learned how to write, basically,” James offered in apology.

“Yeah, he said they used those quills that etch the writing into your hand so that he wouldn’t make any mistakes otherwise it’d take longer,” Peter added.

Lily looked up in concern. “Aren’t those illegal?!” 

“Oh yeah, but his parents are totally mad. That doesn’t even cover the tip of the iceberg,” Peter answered nonchalantly.

“And he just goes back there every holiday? Is he okay?”

“He doesn’t go back there anymore,” James answered. “Left last year.”

“Where does he go now then?” Lily’s concern about Sirius was endearing James to her even more than before, if possible. 

“He lives with me and my parents,” James answered. “He has his own room and stuff so I don’t think it’s too bad.” 

“Oh…” Lily said, looking at James with relief and something else in her eyes. “That’s good then.” 

When they had finished the forgeries up to Inspector Potter’s standards, he took Lily’s and read it over one last time. 

“Moony,” it said. “There’s something I need to tell you that I’ve been keeping a secret for some time now. Meet me at the astronomy tower tonight at 11 PM. –Padfoot.” 

The one Peter had written said basically the same thing, and they were all satisfied. Now all they had to do was plant them places Remus and Sirius would find them before tonight. 

-

Around 10 that night, the three of them had congregated in the common room. James and Peter were playing a game of chess, and Lily was reading a book by the fireplace, pretending to have nothing to do with the other two. Most other students had gone to bed. James had already confirmed that both Remus and Sirius had received, and read, the letters left on their beds, so they were just waiting for one – or both – of them to head out before following to observe.

Remus had come downstairs from the dorms first, at about twenty minutes to eleven, and walked over to James and Peter when he saw the two boys sitting around the table. 

“I’m going to head down to the kitchens,” He said as he would any other time, although James noticed he was being stared at a little too intently. “Do you want anything?”

“No, we’re okay, thanks though, mate,” James responded casually, noting that the map was in Remus’s hands. 

After Remus went out the portrait hole, Sirius came downstairs about ten minutes later. 

“Heading down to the kitchens, mates,” He said as nonchalantly as he could, not offering to get them anything as Remus had.

“M’kay,” James muttered back, pretending to be engrossed in the game.

As soon as they saw the portrait hole close after Sirius, the three of them stood up. 

“Okay,” James began quietly. “We have a very small window here to follow him and be able to watch everything. I’m going to assume Sirius has the cloak, and let’s hope Remus just watches his name coming on the map and doesn’t see the rest of us following.” 

“What is this map you keep talking about? And what cloak?” Lily asked him.

“No time now, Evans, let’s go.” 

-

They had gotten close to the astronomy tower without any major incidents, and were about to round the last corner and then make themselves unseen in one of the eaves near the entrance. 

“Pete, look out to see if the coast is clear,” James whispered.

“Why do I have to do it?”

“Because that way if someone sees you, you can get the detention and Evans and I will run away.”

Peter looked at James indignantly, but looked around the corner all the same. 

“Coast is clear.”

The three scurried over towards the entrance of the astronomy tower, and after climbing a few steps, hid in one of the alcoves. They had a pretty clear view of what was going on at the top, thanks to the moonlight. 

James was waiting to see the romantic moment, and then could burst out from their hiding place and congratulate his friends and take the credit of aiding in the start of their lifelong romance. 

That is not, however, what happened.

“Rem, I don’t know why you picked this place out of all of the places in Hogwarts,” Sirius said, James’s invisibility cloak in his hands.

“Stop. Before this gets any further. I have one thing to ask you,” Remus cut him off.

“Er, okay, yeah sure,” there was nervousness in Sirius’s voice.

Remus held out the letter that Lily had written. “Did you write this letter?”

Sirius took it from him. 

“Nope, definitely did not, mate. In fact,” Sirius took out a similar letter from his robe pocket.

Remus rolled his eyes and took out the map, muttering and tapping his wand to the front. He then pointed at something on it, bringing Sirius’s attention to where he was pointing.

“JAMES FLEAMONT POTTER!” He yelled, turning around toward the entrance.

“I think you forgot to take into account that neither Padfoot or Moony is an idiot,” Peter said to James, trying to be sympathetic.

James started rubbing his eyes under his glasses when Lily looked at him and asked, “Your middle name is Fleamont?” 

At least he still had plans B through G.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again! Thanks for all the wonderful comments and kudos! As a note, I'm going to try to update this weekly or biweekly. I hope everyone likes this weeks chapter :)

-  
James was sulking around in the common room. It had been a couple of days since Plan A had failed spectacularly, and he had made up with Sirius pretty quickly enough – on the promise that he wouldn’t do that again, and he didn't need to, he had lots of other plans – the problem was with Remus. It had been three whole days and Remus was still ignoring him. All of them, in fact. 

“You know it’s your fault, right?” Sirius asked him, sitting on the next cushion on the sofa. 

“You got over it quick enough! I was just trying to help,” James muttered, looking down at the floor. 

“Help who?”

“You! Among other people.”

“What exactly did you think was going to happen?” 

“You know what happens. Two people get together – one of them confesses. The other realizes they’ve also been in love this whole time, and then they get together,” James responded, all the while Sirius had been looking at him like he had grown an extra head.

“In what romantic world do you live in?” He asked incredulously, rolling his grey eyes. “Anyway, I get over things quickly because – as you often say incorrectly – I am a drama queen. I get things out, and then I’m over it. Remus. Does not do that. He lets nothing out and keeps it in and then just lets it eat at him for a while. Or forever. Until someone stops it.” 

An idea popped into James’s head then. He knew he had agreed with Lily to go with one of her plans next, but this was too good of an opportunity. 

“You could try to stop it?” He suggested with what he hoped was an air of innocence.

“No,” Sirius said strongly. “You caused it. You fix it.” 

“But he’s kind of scary when he’s mad at me,” James whined pathetically.

Sirius rolled his eyes again and shrugged, then got off the sofa. “Well, I’m going up to bed. Are you coming?”

“No,” James answered, leaning his head back against the sofa. 

“Fine, continue to wallow in the misery you caused yourself,” Sirius said, going up the stairs. “And you call me dramatic.”

“You are dramatic!” James called after him. 

What he was really doing was waiting for Lily. They had agreed to meet in the common room that night to discuss whatever her next plan was. Hearing the portrait swing open, he didn’t look up from the fireplace where he was staring, expecting Lily to make herself known to him sooner or later. 

“You look kind of miserable,” The person who had come through the portrait hole said. 

James looked over and gave a small smile. “I feel kind of miserable, actually.” 

Remus put his books down on the table and sat down on the sofa next to James. He had been studying in the library a lot the past couple of days, James had noted. This was the third time in their friendship he had done that to avoid the common room. The first time was in first year when he was trying to avoid just about everyone and keep himself out of sight and out of mind. The second time was in second year right after the other three boys had come to him saying that they knew he was a werewolf and they didn’t care, but he hadn’t believed them for a good month. This was a long time after that, and now, in sixth year, James was the reason for the third time, and he felt awful. 

“I’m really sorry, Moony,” James started speaking.

“I know,” Remus said, but didn’t take his eyes off of the fireplace. “I know this might be fun for you and you might think it’s something amusing to do to pass the time, but it’s not a joke to me.” 

“Do you really think I would do that as a joke?” James looked at Remus, shocked.

Remus finally looked him in the eyes and James got his answer. He did actually think that. James felt a couple of things. First he was quite offended that one of his best friends thought so lowly of him to think that he would do something like that. Then he erased that thought and realized it wasn’t James that he had the low opinion of, but himself. After all these years, James realized that Remus still was questioning how much he meant to other people. 

Where Remus Lupin was a man of using his words and controlling his actions, James Potter was a man of just acting. So that's what he did, pulling Remus into a hug. 

“I wouldn’t do that, Moony. I care about you a lot and I really was just trying to make everything work out. It has now been described to me by multiple people – including WORMTAIL of all people – just how flawed my plan was, but it wasn’t my intention to embarrass you or make you feel bad. I really am sorry.” 

He finally pulled back and let Remus go. 

“I know you’re sorry. I’m just tired, Prongs,” Remus said, looking at James with eyes that were far too weary for someone of his age. 

“I know, Moony,” James responded, letting Remus lay his head on James’s shoulder. 

Remus soon fell asleep, judging by his breathing, and James stared into the fireplace. He was now more resolute than ever. James Potter was absolutely going to ensure that Remus Lupin got his happily ever after. A couple minutes later, he decided he should probably get Remus upstairs to bed, or they’d both wake up tomorrow with stiff necks. 

Coming back down the dormitory stairs, James saw Lily in the common room.

“Oh, I thought I might have missed you,” she said, looking up at him.

“Ah – no sorry, just had to gather some people and things upstairs,” James responded, sitting back down on the sofa. “So what's the next plan?”

“Well, it’s much better than your plan.”

James pinched the bridge of his nose above his glasses. “Apparently any other plan is much better than my plan.” 

“I’m going to go to Hogsmeade with Remus.”

“You’re going to… why? What is that going to achieve?”

“It’ll be great. I’ll invite him casually, saying I want to talk to him about some study thing or prefect thing, or whatever. And then we’ll go somewhere – and I’ll hit on him.”

“I don’t like this plan.”

“It’s a really good plan, Potter. Let me finish. And then he’ll obviously be super uncomfortable, and then tell me he’s not interested because he’s interested in Black, and then I can lie and say that I heard Black was interested in HIM from Marlene or someone, and then you’re completely clear of all blame.” 

“You’re okay with just lying to him like that?”

“You’re quite literally the only person, who, in this situation, is not.”

“I still don’t like this plan.”

“Well that sucks for you because it’s my turn to have a plan.”

“Well then after this one doesn't work, we’ll go to my Plan B.”

“We won’t need your ‘Plan B’ because this one’s going to work.” 

James rolled his eyes but conceded. Lily got to work the next day, and Remus had agreed to go to Hogsmeade with her that weekend, as she had insisted she had something she really needed to talk to him about. She had also mentioned she really wanted to go to the bookstore, as a new book had been released, and none of her friends had wanted to go with her. 

-

The morning of the Hogsmeade trip James was growing more uncomfortable. He really didn’t think this plan was going to work. In fact – it might backfire. What if Remus stopped liking Sirius and fell in love with Lily? What if Lily realized Remus was actually a lot like James, but smarter and with much more maturity, and fell in love with him? It was a disastrous Saturday morning. 

“Pads,” James said, pulling Sirius into the dormitory bathroom. “We have a problem.”

Sirius looked around panicked. “What kind of problem?” 

“Moony and Evans are going to Hogsmeade together today.”

Sirius looked relieved. “Is that all? You can’t just pull people into the fucking bathroom then say weird shit, mate. It’s kind of scary.” 

“Did you hear me?”

A short pause. “Why are Remus and Evans going to Hogsmeade together?!”

“She wanted to talk to him about something, I guess,” James shrugged.

“We can’t let that happen! She’s going to fall in love with him!” 

“Well, I mean, I guess it’s one possibility but…”

“It’s the ONLY possibility. He is cute and he is smart. Evans doesn't stand a chance. She really has no choice. And quite honestly, I can’t blame her.” 

And that was how James Potter and Sirius Black ended up in Hogsmeade, underneath the invisibility cloak, eavesdropping on Remus and Lily who were sitting in the cafe area of the Magical Books and Scrolls shop. They had further hidden themselves in the corner most aisle of books, where they had a clear view of the cafe area. 

“So Remus,” Lily said. “I never really see you with any girls – are you dating anyone?”

Remus choked a bit on the coffee he was drinking.

“Sorry?” He asked, recomposing himself. 

“Are you dating anyone?” Lily asked again, bluntly.

“Uhhh… no, I’m not. Not really interested in that sort of thing.” 

“Oh, that's too bad. I was kind of hoping you were.” 

James noted how Remus looked at Lily or a full five seconds, then bodily turned around to look across the whole bookshop. Then he turned back to Lily again. James had to hand it to him, he was very observant at picking up bullshit. 

“You were hoping I was what?”

“Interested.”

James also noted how Lily absolutely was not backing down. He smiled a little bit. It was nice. Then he remembered it was his best friend she was flirting with, and frowned again, even if he knew it was just part of the plan.

“I told you!” Sirius whispered in his ear, and James shrugged back.

“Let’s just listen and see what happens.”

Things might go well. Maybe Lily’s plan would work, and then Sirius could hear it for himself, and there would be no room for misunderstanding. Then James’s life could go back to normal, and instead of trying to get his two best friends together, he could focus on getting himself together with Evans. As life had always intended. 

“Are you hitting on me?” Remus asked.

“Do you want me to be?” 

“Uhh… no. I don’t.”

“Oh,” Lily said in what James was hoping was fake disappointment. “Why not?”

“I… uh… well.. I’m not… I don’t… it’s just… I could never do that to James,” Remus finally finished. 

“I’m not dating Potter.”

“I know that it’s just – he really likes you a lot. And he’s a great guy you know,” Remus said, and James was already rolling his eyes. This plan was not going to work. 

Their conversation continued for a bit after that – with Lily saying she hoped this didn’t make things awkward, and Remus assuring her that it wouldn’t. Then they left the bookstore and James finally took the cloak off. Sirius was staring at him with a very stern “I told you so” look. 

“Uhhh.. let’s go find Pete. I think we left him at Honeydukes,” James said and started walking out. 

-

Back in the common room that night, James finally met up with Lily. He was going to pretend like he hadn’t been watching the whole thing unfold today.

“How’d it go?” He asked her, sitting across from her in an armchair.

“Not well,” she answered glumly. “He apparently likes YOU too much. Maybe you should date him.”

“I could never do that to Sirius.”

“All of you boys are so weird.”

James just shrugged but was already thinking. It was time to move on to Plan B.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter four is here! It seems the news is very crazy these days, and I hope everyone is staying safe with the coronavirus! I myself am a resident of Japan, and things largely seem to be going back to normal these days. So things do eventually go back to normal! Take care everyone :)

October had come and gone in a blur, and November had started with a sudden shift in cold weather. James was a bit angry with this, as he got out of bed one Wednesday morning, to face the day. First he just had to face the really, really cold floor. His meddling plans had recently taken a bit of a backseat, with classes and Quidditch and a full moon, but he was still always thinking about chances to get Remus and Sirius together alone. He thought maybe that’s what he should do this morning – come up with some new ideas – and wrapped himself back in his blanket, snuggling into bed. 

He turned over to take a look out the dormitory window to see how the weather was going to be for the day – and yelled.

“FUCK for Merlin’s sake Sirius.” 

“Hi,” Sirius said, a couple of centimeters away from him. In his bed.

“You can’t just climb into my bed in the morning.”

“Yes I can. I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“It’s my birthday this weekend,” Sirius said, and James was wondering if he thought somehow he had forgotten. He had not.

“I know.”

“How’s my surprise party coming along?”

“Your – your what?” James was confused. 

“My surprise party. I’m thinking Friday night probably works better for everyone.” 

“No one is planning a surprise party, Sirius.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry,” Sirius said, starting to get out of James’s bed, and James felt relieved. Then he didn’t. “I’ll still act surprised!” 

That was how James became completely unfocused in every class of the day, writing notes on spare pieces of parchment with ideas on how to throw a surprise birthday party with two days notice. He had only half paid attention in Transfiguration, and had to ask McGonagall to repeat a question, which she had, but looked at him sternly. She had moved on with the lesson after, and he had gone back to work. 

James was still collecting all his things after the lesson, and had thought everyone had moved on without him to go down for lunch. Then he felt someone staring at him. 

“What are you doing?” Remus asked him accusingly. 

“I’m… putting my things away?”

“You have been distracted all day and if you’re thinking of some new way to turn my life into a fresh hell I’m going to have to ask you not to do that.” 

“It really isn’t that . . . this time,” James added. “Padfoot said he really wants a surprise party this Friday for his birthday so now I have two days to plan that.” 

“He asked you to throw him a surprise party?”

“Yeah, this morning.”

“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a surprise party?”

“It’s Sirius.”

“He’s stupid.” 

“I’m not the one with a crush on him,” James said and that earned him a scroll thrown at his head.

The two boys then went down to the Great Hall, where they found Sirius and Peter already eating. 

“Okay so we need to start planning Padfoot’s surprise party,” James said as he sat down, causing Sirius to audibly gasp.

“You can’t just talk about it while I’m here!”

“Wasn’t it your idea?”

“No! Don’t tell people that! Plan without me!” Sirius said, grabbing some food and heading out of the Great Hall.

“Is his birthday really this soon?” Peter asked, looking slightly panicked. 

“Yes,” James groaned. “You do this every year.”

“You can just add your name to my present,” Remus said, smiling at Peter.

“No!” James interrupted. “You probably bought him something really nice – you can add it to mine, Wormtail.” 

-

After classes, James returned to the Gryffindor common room. Entering through the portrait hole, he saw Lily sitting on one of the sofas, reading a book. 

“Evans!” He said, sitting down next to her. “I actually need your help.”

“How is that anything new?” She answered, barely looking up from her book. 

James was starting to enjoy how comfortable things were getting with her; how easy they were having conversations these days. 

“Well, we’re having Sirius’s birthday party this Friday night – so if you can invite all the girls? We’ll just have it down here.” 

Lily closed her book after placing a bookmark inside. “You’re going to have a party in the common room on Friday night?”

“Yeah, come on – don’t get all prefect on me.” 

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll invite everyone – have you already secured all the drinks and things?”

“Like . . . drink drinks?”

“No, James, the other kind,” she said sarcastically, and James almost didn’t notice that she used his first name. 

“Do you have a plan for the beverages then, Ms. Prefect?” He smiled at her. 

“I’m sure I can procure something or other,” Lily said nonchalantly, going back to her book. “Might actually do the work for us with the plan, if everyone has some alcohol in them.” 

\- 

Thursday passed in a bit of a blur, as did classes and Quidditch practice on Friday. James had left most of the day-of stuff to Remus and Peter, which probably meant poor Remus was getting everything together. Lily had promised to help though.

“I can’t wait to go back to the dorms and have a really quiet night,” Sirius said as they got closer to the portrait hole.

“Oh, shut up Pads,” James rolled his eyes, saying the password and crawling in.

A huge cheer of “Surprise!” greeted them when they entered, and the common room was decorated in Gryffindor colors, with banners charmed to shoot out sparkling stars at timed intervals. James looked around the room, noting that some students from other houses had apparently heard about the party and came up. An impressive turnout. He was thinking he should rope Lily into more party plans if this was the outcome. 

Sirius was certainly acting the part of surprised, to which James rolled his eyes. But he was also already smiling and laughing, so James was happy enough, and took his broom from him to go put their Quidditch things upstairs safely in the dorm. 

When he came back downstairs, Lily was waiting for him at the bottom, holding a cup. 

“For the party planner,” she said, handing it to him. 

“Thanks,” he grinned, taking the cup. “The room looks great. Really nice charm work on the stars.”

“I had some help from Remus,” Lily shrugged, but was smiling.

“If I didn’t know better I’d say you’re having fun, Evans,” James said.

“Are you going to drink or just hold your cup all night?”

James looked down at his cup. Inside was an orange-colored juice. He took a sniff and yes, it was definitely pumpkin juice. 

“Was your idea of drinks really just pumpkin juice?”

“Oh, come on, Potter. Drink some.” 

So he did. And then he promptly gagged. 

“Merlin, Lily, is there a whole bottle of firewhiskey in here?”

James looked over at Lily, and she was laughing, head thrown back. She really was having fun. 

“Don’t tell me I could drink you under the table,” she said to him, green eyes glittering with mischief and laughter.

James just smiled back and took another sip of his drink, this time mentally prepared. He was ready to respect her wishes and not come on so strong this year, but if she was going to keep laughing like that, he thought he was going to have a lot of trouble controlling himself.

The party continued in full swing, when later in the night James noticed Remus leaning against the wall, glaring into the air. 

“You all right, Moony?” He asked, sliding next to his friend against the wooden wall.

“Did you have to come up after Quidditch practice?”

“Did we – what? Why?”

“Because his hair. Is up. In a bun. And as the night goes on, it just keeps falling out. And it looks really nice,” Remus finished, drinking out of the cup he was holding.

James held one hand against the wall for support as he laughed. 

“Moony – are you drunk?!” 

“No,” Remus replied, taking another sip.

“So you’re just angry in general that Sirius has his hair up?”

Remus closed one eye. “I might be a little drunk.” 

“Did you give him your present yet?” 

“No.”

“You should – go do it. I’ll hold your drink.”

“If I’m going to go do that, I need my drink,” Remus said, and finished what was left in the cup in one gulp. 

“Or . . . do that,” James said, mostly to himself as Remus walked over to Sirius.

James went over to Lily, who was talking with Marlene and Mary. He pulled her off to the side, and the other two girls laughed at him a bit. 

“Remus is going to give Sirius his birthday present now,” James tried to whisper, but at this point with the alcohol it probably came off more as a stage whisper. 

“Ooo – this’ll be good,” Lily responded, not seeming angry at all for having been pulled away from her friends.

Remus had gone up to Sirius, who was grinning at him like he was literally the sun. Remus handed over a box to him, and Sirius put his drink down on the table to open it. James couldn’t see what the present was, but Sirius smiled even brighter if possible, and while a bit unsteady on his feet, buried his face into Remus’s neck, hugging onto him. 

“It seems alcohol may have done all the work for us,” James said to Lily.

“Yup. All you need is some pumpkin juice, firewhiskey, and a good hand,” she responded. 

Then James noticed Sirius pulled away from Remus, leaned over to one side to where no one was standing, and threw up.

“It seems your firewiskey hand may be a little heavy, Evans,” he said, holding out his cup for her to take so he could go over and deal with the situation.

“It’s not my fault you boys can’t drink,” she said, taking his drink.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone - sorry this took a bit but things are craaaazy these days. I hope everyone’s doing well and staying safe. To make up for a longer update time this chapter is a bit long. I hope everyone enjoys!

-

The aftermath of Sirius’s birthday party had gone with him not getting out of bed all Saturday due to a hangover, then asking James how the end of the party had gone, as he hadn’t remembered anything, and then not getting out of bed all Sunday due to embarrassment. 

“I threw up ON Moony?!” Sirius had exclaimed, pulling his blanket over his head.

“Well, more in the general vicinity of him,” James had explained to make the situation better. 

“Merlin I can’t believe I fucking did that. Who even made those drinks?!”

“Lily.”

“Is she insane?”

“Maybe a little . . . isn’t it great?” James had responded, which had caused Sirius to roll his eyes.

“I can’t talk to him ever again.”

“Yes you can. He put you upstairs into bed after that, so he wasn’t mad or anything.”

“He did WHAT?! You have to find out if I said anything stupid.”

“Would it really be so bad if you just told him?” James had asked, getting quite tired and kind of wanting the whole thing to be over and done with.

“Yes. It really would be so bad.”

And that was how James then had gone to find Remus, who was downstairs in the common room, to ask what conversation had ensued in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“Nothing. He just went to sleep,” Remus had answered his question about the night.

James had narrowed his eyes. “You want me to believe that Sirius Black, who can’t even keep his mouth shut sober, just quietly went to bed after getting so drunk he was sick?”

“Like you said, he was very drunk,” Remus had shrugged.

“Remus.”

“Okay, fine, he told me I had really pretty eyes and I smelled nice.”

“Remus!”

“He was drunk, Prongs, it does not mean anything. And if you are down here asking me what he said for him, he clearly does not remember the conversation.”

“But if he was drunk I’m sure he meant what he said!”

Remus had rolled his eyes at him and had gone back to the homework he was doing, which James had taken to mean the conversation was over.

-

Now it was December, and the term was coming to a close, which meant everyone was getting ready to go home for the holidays.

“My parents asked what you wanted for Christmas dinner,” James said to Sirius, who was sitting on his bed doing the crossword puzzle in the Daily Prophet. 

“Oh, uh,” Sirius responded, suddenly looking a bit guilty. “I’m not coming this year, sorry, mate. I’ll send presents though!”

“What do you mean you’re not coming?” James blinked slowly at him.

“I’m gonna stay here this year.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Well, I turned 17, and I got that money from my uncle, and I really REALLY love your parents, Prongs, it’s just, I don’t want to be a leech in your family forever, so I was planning to stay here this Christmas and then find a flat over the summer hols.”

James sat down on Sirius’s bed.

“Sirius. You know that no one thinks you’re a ‘leech in the family’ right?”

“Yeah I know,” Sirius said casually, but James wasn’t totally convinced. “But I’m gonna have to figure stuff out after Hogwarts anyway, so might as well start now.”

“Mom and Dad are going to be so upset if you don’t come for Christmas.”

“I know … they do like me better than you,” Sirius said, grinning.

“Not what I meant,” James rolled his eyes.

“And anyway,” Sirius continued, “Remus is staying at Hogwarts for Christmas because the term ends a week or so after the full moon and he’s not sure if he’d be up for going all the way back to Wales. And it’s just sad if he’s here by himself, so I thought I’d stay.”

“Oh,” James smiled. “Now I see the real reason.”

“No, not like that,” Sirius protested. “I’m over that.”

“Are you really?”

“Yeah, totally, it was just a stupid crush,” Sirius said flippantly.

James said nothing but raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, no, I’m not over it,” Sirius quickly said and put the newspaper aside, leaning on James instead, “I think I’m properly fucked mate. He’s so cute all of the time and he doesn’t even realize it. And he’s funny, too, so that’s like, a double attack.”

James absentmindedly threw an arm around Sirius’s shoulders. “Yeah, Moony is pretty unassuming and I think that makes him funnier.”

“Are your parents going to be really gutted if I don’t come with you?” Sirius asked, looking up at James.

“Well, I know they’ll miss you, but when I tell them you’re staying here in the pursuit of love, I’m sure they’ll forgive you.”

“Do not tell them something like that!”

“And anyway,” James continued, ignoring Sirius, “we still have the last Hogsmeade visit of the year, so we can all hang out before Christmas then!”

It was then that Remus and Peter came back up into the dormitory, and looked at Sirius and James on the bed.

“Did you know that some of the girls in 5th year have started speculating that you two are dating?” Peter asked, gesturing at them.

“Maybe we could take some pictures and sell them for money,” Remus suggested.

“I am way out of James’s league,” Sirius said, repeating their usual joke, so James pushed him over so he fell off the bed, laughing.

“It is I who is out of your league, Pads.”

-

Sure enough, the last Hogsmeade weekend did come, and snow was falling in the small town. 

“Did everyone finish their Christmas shopping yet?” James asked, turning around to where his three friends were behind him.

It was then that three snowballs hit him in the face, knocking his glasses askew, followed by laughter. 

“Wow that’s really mature, guys,” he said, pretending to glare for a second before reaching down to grab some snow himself and retaliate.

The snowball fight continued for some time, to the point where James could no longer see out of his glasses and was throwing snowballs blindly, laughing.

“Potter!” He heard someone yell, and the four boys immediately stopped. 

James wiped off his glasses, and put them back on to see Lily standing near him, a mess of snow in her red hair.

“Uhhh, sorry Evans?” He tried, just as a snowball that had been enchanted to seek targets hit him in the side of his head.

It was suddenly worth it to him, as Lily had started to laugh at the expression on his face. 

“You don’t throw very well,” she said, scooping up some snow to make a snowball of her own, and hitting him square in the chest. 

After a moment of surprise, the snowball fight continued, this time with Lily in the fray. They continued until no one could feel their fingers or noses anymore, and all stopped in a mass of heavy breathing and smiles.

“Hey guys, look over here!” Someone called out to them, and they all turned as a bright flash went off.

Once his eyes readjusted to not being blinded, James saw Marlene McKinnon, blonde hair under a red winter hat, standing with a camera in her hands.

“My parents are travelling this winter, so they sent me an early Christmas present,” she explained. “I’ll give you all copies when I get it printed!”

“Thanks,” Lily was the one to respond first. “I think we’re going to head inside The Three Broomsticks or somewhere to warm up, did you want to come?”

“Thanks but I’m going to go meet Dorcas – see you guys later!” Marlene said and she was off.

The five of them went into the shop, and managed to grab a table towards the back. The place was crowded with Hogwarts students, seeing their friends before the holidays, and full of general good cheer as the term had ended.

“I’ll go get drinks!” Sirius offered as he stood up, then paused. “Do you want butterbeer or hot chocolate, Rem?”

“Er, hot chocolate is fine,” Remus smiled back, and James wondered if he was blushing or if the sudden warmth inside had brought color to his cheeks.

“He literally didn’t ask what any of us want,” Lily commented, glaring at Sirius’s retreating back. 

“Well, I think everyone usually just gets butterbeer, but if you want something else I can go tell him,” Remus said as he started to stand up.

“No, it’s okay,” Lily smiled at him. “I was just thinking maybe he likes you.”

Remus sat back down and stared at Lily, eyes a little wide. Peter had suddenly found something on the table very interesting. James had to cough to cover the bark of laughter he had let out. Then Sirius came back with the tray of drinks, and everyone took one.

“Cheers!” Lily initiated, holding her hot butterbeer mug – a winter specialty – towards the middle of the table, and winked at Remus as everyone clinked mugs.

-

James was back at his house a week after that, after a pretty uneventful trip back to Kings Cross from Hogwarts. A smile was still on his lips though as he remembered he had found Lily on the train back, and had managed to give her a Christmas present – just a small thing – and she had smiled and thanked him instead of getting mad at him. He had written a letter to his parents informing them that Sirius was going to stay at Hogwarts over the break, so they hadn’t looked surprised when he showed up alone.

He stayed in his bed a bit longer than usual, looking out the window at the falling snow. It felt a bit weird, staying in his house alone for the first time in a while, and it was starting to border on boring. 

“Jamie! Some letters came with the owl post!” His mom called from downstairs.

“Coming!” He responded, throwing his legs out of bed and going down the stairs.

“Good morning,” Euphemia Potter greeted him when he was downstairs, handing him the letters.

“Morning, Mum,” he responded sleepily, shuffling through them.

He looked at one from Sirius, one from Remus, and then stopped when he got to the last and third letter. 

“…Mum, who is this from?”

“How am I supposed to know? There were three of them – so probably Sirius, Remus, and Peter, no?” His mom answered, sitting down to her breakfast. She had met Remus and Peter at Platform 9 and 3/4 many times, so was well aware of who would be writing to him over break. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a letter from Pete over such a short break, Mum, and this handwriting looks way too nice,” he answered, throwing the ones from Sirius and Remus down on the table and opening the third, mystery letter.

_‘James –  
It feels a bit odd writing a letter to you, but I wanted to thank you again for the Christmas present, it was very nice. I also wanted to apologize that I didn’t have anything for you – I wasn’t expecting us to exchange gifts - I’ll be sure to bring back a present at the start of the new term. I hope you have a good Christmas, and best wishes to your family too.  
-Lily Evans’_

“Is everything all right, dear?” Euphemia asked, and James realized he had probably been standing there for a while, having read the letter ten times over.

“Did someone break our son?” Fleamont Potter asked, joining his wife at the breakfast table.

“Lily… sent me a letter,” James finally managed to get out.

“Is that the girl you like?” His dad asked.

“Like doesn’t cover it, Dad. I think I love her,” he responded while his mom laughed into her coffee.

“Well, then it’s good she sent a letter.”

James then opened the letters from Sirius and Remus.

_‘Prongs –  
I’m starting to slightly regret my decision not to come back with you this Christmas. Remus is just reading and doing homework all day every day. And going to the library because he says it’s the best time to go since no one else has checked out any of the books so they’re all there. He even picked out some books he said he thought I might like. Can you imagine spending all winter vacation reading? I did start reading one and it’s actually not bad, but that’s beside the point. The only good thing is the common room is pretty empty, so we can use the best sofa – you know, the one next to the fireplace? When Remus reads there he gets really sleepy and starts to nod off, usually on my shoulder, which is quite nice. And we did make a snowman the other day, which was fun.  
But anyway, we’re looking forward to your grand return! It’s way too quiet here. I hope you have a good Christmas and tell your Mom and Dad I love them and Happy Christmas!  
-Padfoot’_

“Sirius says he loves you and happy Christmas,” James said, opening Remus’s letter next.

_‘James –  
How’s your vacation going? I don’t know why you didn’t take Sirius with you – I think he’s going a little crazy. I went down to the library the other day and told him he didn’t have to come if he didn’t want to, but he came and then complained that it was ‘the worst date ever.’ I’m not sure if I like him or if I want to kill him, but that’s how it usually goes anyway, isn’t it?  
We made sure your presents will be coming with the owl post from Hogwarts and will be there Christmas morning – I hope you like them! See you when you get back and Happy Christmas!  
-Remus’_

James rolled his eyes and put his letters away, finally having breakfast with his parents. After breakfast his dad said he was going off to work on some new potions, and went into his workroom. 

“So,” his mom turned to him. “Did something happen this year at school where Lily Evans would be writing you letters?”

“Not really? I guess we’ve been hanging out a bit more than usual. But it just started as a plan for..” he trailed off, not wanting to tell his mom about his friends’ relationship troubles.

“For what?”

James sighed, wondering how much he could really tell his mother. His parents were accepting of so much, but Sirius was always at their house, and he didn’t want anything to be weird with them. 

“Well, Sirius kind of likes someone,” he said vaguely. “And Lily was helping me try to get them together. So far nothing’s come out of it yet though.”

“It doesn’t sound like Sirius to be shy about his feelings,” his mom frowned. 

“Well, er, it’s a bit … complicated. He likes one of our friends and doesn't want to make it weird. But the other friend also told me that they like Sirius but they both told me not to tell anyone – especially the other – but then I kind of accidentally told Lily. And Peter. And now you kind of. So we thought that if we can get them to just tell each other then I’m clear of keeping any more secrets.”

“And you’ve left poor Remus out of the loop?”

“Uh, no, he’s … he’s involved,” James answered vaguely when a flash of understanding crossed his mom’s eyes.

“Well,” she said. “I hope it works out for them.”

On Christmas morning James was opening presents with his parents, as all the presents had arrived on time and were ready to be opened.

“Oh, well, isn’t this nice,” Euphemia exclaimed, holding up the tea set Sirius had bought them to show Fleamont.

“It’s very nice,” he had responded. “In our next letter though we’ll have to thank him and tell him he doesn’t need to waste money on us.”

James rolled his eyes and thought that it wasn’t quite fair that Sirius had sure, a strict, but posh upbringing that would allow him to know the kind of nice presents parents would like. Then he pushed back the thought as he knew there were lots of things he had – like his loving parents – that Sirius was jealous of.

He opened up his own presents, and last, he noticed a small envelope that must have come in with the present post. He noticed it said, ‘To James, from Marlene’ on it, and he remembered the picture she had taken at Hogsmeade. 

Opening up the envelope, the moving picture slid out, and he smiled down at it. To the left Remus and Sirius were laughing, shaking snow out of their hair and off their jackets. Peter stood in the middle, also laughing. On the right, he saw himself next to Lily, and smiled at how happy and carefree she looked, throwing a last handful of snow above his head, falling down on him like rain.

“That’s a lovely picture,” he heard his mom say, as she was sitting next to him now. “I’m assuming this must be Lily?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s very pretty.”

“Yeah, she is.”

She looked over to the left side of the picture. “I think it’s obvious that they like each other, pity they can’t see it themselves.”

“Is it? How can you tell?” James squinted at the picture.

“Sometimes when you look at two people it’s just obvious,” his mom explained, but her eyes were now over to the right side of the photo.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s the sixth chapter! Wow, there’s only one chapter left! Sorry this also took a bit. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and things will be wrapped up in the last one!  
> I also hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and life hasn’t gotten too crazy for anyone. :)

Snow was falling outside the windows as James made his way down from the Gryffindor tower. He had overslept and now would have to suffer through Herbology on an empty stomach. He had vaguely wondered why no one had bothered to wake him up, but saw one of his pillows on the floor in the vicinity of Sirius’s bed, so he could only assume he threw it after an attempt was made to wake him up. 

Pink. There was pink everywhere, and James thought it was a bit odd. That must mean that it become February, and the corridors near the Great Hall had been decorated for Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day. A super romantic holiday that he had honestly never paid much attention to. He didn’t really understand it, it seemed like a muggle thing, but all of the girls had made it quite popular recently, and so Hogwarts had started to mildly celebrate in the form of pink decorations and heart-shaped biscuits at meals.

His mind full of why a random day in February had made him subject to seeing naked flying angels everywhere, he stepped out into the snowy day, making his way towards the greenhouse. Ahead of him, he caught sight of sandy blonde hair. 

“Ow!” Peter said, rubbing the back of his head where a snowball had hit him. “What did you do that for?”

“Why did no one wake me up this morning?” James countered, catching up to the smaller boy.

“Sirius tried but you threw your pillow at him and told him to piss off. Then Remus said if you wanted to be a prick to just leave you there.”

“I thought that was the case… Hey, Pete, what do you know about Valentine’s Day?”

“It’s a random day that’s been commercialized so that men can give women chocolates, roses, and jewelry?”

“But why did they pick February? There’s nothing romantic about it being bloody cold.”

“Well I think there was an actual Saint Valentine and he died on February 14th.”

“…Why are muggle holidays so morbid?”

Peter shrugged as James thought of an idea.

“Hey – Wormtail,” he said, taking Peter’s arm and guiding him back to the castle. “Skip Herbology with me.”

“Why?” Peter looked confused, eyes wandering back to the greenhouse they had almost arrived at. 

“It’s important, trust me.”

Once inside and warm in an empty classroom, James sat down atop one of the desks. 

“So, Valentine’s Day has become a kind of thing recently, yeah?” He started, looking at Peter.

“Yeah…”

“Well we should get dates and go to Hogsmeade like everyone else does.”

“Okay…”

“But we won’t invite Padfoot or Moony, and then they can spend the day together and Valentine’s magic can happen!”

“I don’t think that’s how the holiday works but…”

“It’ll be great!”

“Maybe but, where are we going to find dates? I don’t know any girls.”

“Leave that to me. I know lots of girls. Well. I know one girl. And Lily knows lots of girls so I’m sure she can find someone.”

They went down to the kitchens for the rest of Herbology period, and then met up with their classmates outside of the Transfiguration classroom.

“You can’t just skip Herbology with Pete and leave us out of it,” Sirius glared at him in the hallway outside the classroom.

“Well, I overslept because no one woke me up,” James glared back, “and then I just saw him on my way down.”

“I tried to wake you up!”

“And I also heard I was called a prick,” James now glared over at Remus, who shrugged.

“If you don’t want to be called a prick, don’t be a prick.”

“That’s a fair assessment,” Sirius nodded. 

James rolled his eyes and went into the Transfiguration classroom, as the doors had opened for the students to enter. 

Instead of sitting down with his friends, he went towards the front of the room and sat down on the two-seat bench next to Lily.

“Someone else is going to sit there, Potter,” Lily looked over at him.

“They can sit somewhere else for a day,” James responded. “I have something to ask you. Can we talk?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, we have, what? A few minutes before class starts,” James started but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall entering the classroom. 

“No, we don’t,” Lily whispered to him. “But after class is fine.”

James found it easier to concentrate in class when he wasn’t laughing about something with Sirius, or trying to kick him under the table. He did notice that Lily kept looking at him from the side of his vision, and he wondered if she was waiting for him to mess something up so she could sigh exasperatedly or yell at him.

Class finished, and James waved his three friends along without him, and, after Peter had given him an awkward thumbs-up, stood at the back of the classroom with Lily. 

“So you needed to talk to me?” Lily started.

“Yeah, so for Valentine’s Day…”

“I’m not going out with you on Valentine’s Day.”

“It’s part of the plan!” James exclaimed, and Lily just looked at him with one raised eyebrow. “If we go out and leave the castle – and if you happen to have any friends who would want to come with as a like double fake date with Pete – then that leaves Remus and Sirius here, alone, for the Valentine’s magic to work.”

“Do you even know what Valentine’s Day is, Potter?”

“Yeah, Pete told me all about it. His mom’s a muggle. And I fully volunteer to be the one to face death for the sake of romance for our group.”

“What are you… no one has to face death. Either Peter is an idiot, or you’re an idiot, or, as I suspect is the case, you’re both idiots.”

James heard a small huff of what almost sounded like laughter, and turned toward the front of the classroom. Professor McGonagall was standing up at her desk. Had she really been there the whole time?

“Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, if you could please continue your conversation outside my classroom, the third years will be coming in soon,” she said, not unkindly.

“Right, sorry, Professor,” James said and turned back to Lily, who was already walking out the door. “Evans – wait!”

“I’ll get back to you about it!” She called over her shoulder. 

Later happened to be that night at dinner. They had finished eating, and Remus went upstairs to read or do homework, and Sirius was still upset that James and Peter had skipped class without him, so he followed Remus back to the common room, saying he didn’t want to dine with traitors. 

“Potter,” Lily sat down next to him, another girl from their year with her. “You know Mary.”

“Yeah, hey, Mary, how are you?”

“We may be interested in Hogsmeade on Valentine’s weekend,” Lily continued.

“Wow, that’s great!” Peter interjected, and James gave him a look to stop taking before he ruined it.

“What do you mean, you may be?” James asked.

“Well, if you pay for it, we’ll go out to afternoon tea.”

“Okay, yeah, I can do that. You’re sure no one has to die?”

Mary laughed, and Lily rolled her eyes and said, “you’d think he’s joking, but he’s not. No, no one has to die.”

James looked over at Peter accusatorily. “You told me there’s death.”

“That’s not what I said, I said someone died on that day, I didn’t say someone always has to die.”

“Well, how am I supposed to know? Isn’t muggle romance always quite morbid?”

“Anyway,” Lily cut it. “Does that work for you?”

Both Peter and James agreed, and after arranging the time and saying bye, the girls walked away. 

“I’d say that worked out well,” James said, grabbing another biscuit.

“Yeah, my first Valentine’s date!” Peter responded. 

“You know it’s not actually a real date, right?”

“That’s okay.”

Just then, James noticed someone else standing where Lily and Mary had been.

“Uhhh, sorry to bother you,” a girl started, and James looked over at her. Ravenclaw. Maybe their year or a year below them, and he couldn’t for the life of him remember her name.

“Yes?”

“I wanted to ask you about Valentine’s weekend,” the girl started, not looking up from where she was staring at the table.

James was a bit confused. He had no girls’ attention really until now, and suddenly he was rolling in Valentine’s dates.

“Oh, I’m, I’m sorry but I’m actually going…” he started explaining.

“No, not you,” the girl responded rather hurriedly, “just, you’re best mates with Sirius Black, right?”

James sighed. Of course. It was always Sirius. “Yeah, I guess I am,” he responded.

“Do you know if he’s going somewhere with someone already?”

James paused. “Yeah, actually, he already has a date, sorry,” he decided to lie.

“Oh, I see then,” the girl responded, and made to turn and walk away.

“With Remus!” Peter interjected unnecessarily and both James and the girl turned to stare at him.

“Remus Lupin?” The Ravenclaw questioned.

“Yup!” Peter grinned.

“Oh. I didn’t know that was… yeah, er, all right then. Thanks for letting me know,” and with that, the girl walked away. 

“Pete, what the fuck?”

They made their way back to the common room, all the while James chiding Peter for saying something like that out loud, and Peter defending himself by saying he thought that was the whole goal. The common room was nearly empty, so they made their way up to the dormitory.

“Some Ravenclaw girl was asking if you had plans for Valentine’s weekend,” James told Sirius once they were inside.

“Oh?” Sirius didn’t seem that interested.

“Peter,” James emphasized to prove that this was not his fault, “told her that you already had a date. With Remus.”

Now Sirius seemed interested and Remus also looked up from the book he was reading in bed. 

“I did not,” Peter started. “James told her that you already had a date. And I just added in the last part.”

“Why would you do that?” Sirius asked, glaring.

“I dunno. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“It seemed like a…” Sirius started to repeat, then looked back at James. “Was she fit?”

James just raised an eyebrow back at Sirius.

“She was in Ravenclaw, so I’m assuming she’s fairly smart, and would have eaten you alive,” James finally answered.

“That is not true. I can have an intelligent conversation.”

“You sure?” James teased.

“Yes, I talk to Moony all the time, and he’s smart, and he hasn’t eaten me alive yet.”

“That's because he’s nice. I have no doubts that if given the opportunity, he could absolutely do it.”

Remus looked up from his book again and nodded, while smiling slightly, before going back to reading.

“Moony!” Sirius cried dramatically, flopping down on Remus’s bed and putting his head on Remus’s shoulder. “They’re making fun of me.”

“It’s not really poking fun at you if it’s all true, mate,” Remus responded, but did not move Sirius off his shoulder.

Sirius huffed but also did not move, and James rolled his eyes.

“Well, if you want to go find her feel free, but just so you know, me and Peter do have dates for Valentine’s weekend.”

“Do you really? With who?”

“Lily Evans and Mary Macdonald.”

“And you didn’t come in here yelling and jumping about how you finally got a date with Evans?” Sirius looked suspicious.

“Well, it’s more of a like, as friends thing. Yeah. Just trying to be nice and help set Pete up on a date, yeah…” James defended. 

Peter rolled his eyes but did not comment.

“Oh, all right. Guess we really are on our own for Valentine’s then, Moony,” Sirius said, looking up at Remus who just ‘hmm’ed noncommittally.

-

“What are your plans for the afternoon then?” James asked Sirius, in their dormitory, while he was getting ready on the day of the Valentine’s date.

“Well, Remus did say maybe we could go over to the Three Broomsticks and grab dinner and laugh at all the sad awkward couples. Like you. And Peter.”

“You didn’t take the opportunity to ask him out on an actual date?”

“No – how the hell would I have gone about that?”

“I don't know – use your words?”

“It’s not that easy, Prongs.”

“I think it is, Pads.”

“Well sorry if I don’t take romantic advice from the six year pining sad prat.”

James rolled his eyes. “Well, I’m going to go, so enjoy your date-not-date.”

“You too.”

-

James had never been inside Madam Puddifoot’s teashop. And now he understood why. It was an assault to the senses. It smelled strongly of overly sweet things, and the vibrant pinks and fluffy cushions made it difficult to look in one place for too long. They were guided over to a table and were seated in the crowded shop.

“Well, this is… romantic,” James started.

“This place is bloody awful,” Lily commented, and James had to cough back laughter.

“Well,” Mary said amicably, “I heard the tea and cakes are really nice.”

The tea and cakes were nice, but did not make up for the offensive atmosphere, James thought, and vowed never to step foot into the teashop again. After they finished, the four stepped back outside and wandered around the small village. 

Passing by the Three Broomsticks, James could see Remus and Sirius sitting at a table, sure enough. They looked to be having an animated conversation, with Sirius telling a story using a lot of gestures, and Remus laughing into his drink. James thought that they looked really happy.

“I heard from someone that Sirius and Remus were going on a date for Valentine’s – who knew!” Mary commented when she saw where James was looking.

“Yeah… who knew, right?” James answered, looking at Lily quizzically. 

On the way back to the castle, Peter and Mary walked a little ahead of James and Lily, talking about one thing or another.

“I thought you would have told Mary about why we needed to go on a double date,” James said to Lily during the walk.

“Well, if she had refused, I would have told her, but she seemed okay with the idea from the beginning,” Lily responded.

“Oh. That’s nice. I guess Pete really did have a Valentine’s date then.”

“Yeah, I suppose the ‘Valentine’s magic’ you were on about really worked. And no one even had to die!” Lily teased him, knocking into his side with her shoulder.

“It’s not my fault I don’t know about those things!”

“No, but it is your fault that you believe stupid things.”

They continued walking in amicable silence, until James said, “Well, happy Valentine’s Day, Lily, I guess.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, James Potter.”


End file.
